document_title: History of sugar

question_text: when did sugar come to the united states

text: History of sugar

text: The spread of sugarcane cultivation[edit]

text: The people of New Guinea were probably the first to domesticate sugarcane, sometime around 8,000 BC.[5] After domestication, its cultivation spread rapidly to Southeast Asia and southern China. India, where the process of refining cane juice into granulated crystals was developed, was often visited by imperial convoys (such as those from China) to learn about cultivation and sugar refining. [6] By the sixth century AD, sugar cultivation and processing had reached Persia; and, from there that knowledge was brought into the Mediterranean by the Arab expansion.[7] "Wherever they went, the [medieval] Arabs brought with them sugar, the product and the technology of its production."[8]

text: Spanish and Portuguese exploration and conquest in the fifteenth century carried sugar south-west of Iberia. Henry the Navigator introduced cane to Madeira in 1425, while the Spanish, having eventually subdued the Canary Islands, introduced sugar cane to them.[7] In 1493, on his second voyage, Christopher Columbus carried sugarcane seedlings to the New World, in particular Hispaniola.[7]

text: Early use of sugarcane in India[edit]

text: Sugarcane originated in tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia.[9] Different species likely originated in different locations with S. barberi originating in India and S. edule and S. officinarum coming from New Guinea.[9]

text: Originally, people chewed sugarcane raw to extract its sweetness. Indians discovered how to crystallize sugar during the Gupta dynasty, around 350 AD.[10]

text: There are lot of mentions in Tamil sangam literatures like Purananuru, Ainkurunuru, Perumpaanaatruppadai, Paṭṭiṉappālai and Akananuru about cultivation of sugarcane, sugarcane juice extraction using machines and sugar extraction in Tamil land of South India. It is mentioned in puranaanooru (392), the sugar cane is brought to Tamil land in Sanga era from an unknown place. In Purananuru and Ainkurunuru, sugarcane juice extraction with use of huge machineries was compared with the sound made by elephants and the smoke produced during the process of making of sugar spread over a heap of unwinnowed paddy was like clouds over mountains.

text: Indian sailors, consumers of clarified butter and sugar, carried sugar by various trade routes.[11] Traveling Buddhist monks brought sugar crystallization methods to China.[12] During the reign of Harsha (r. 606–647) in North India, Indian envoys in Tang China taught sugarcane cultivation methods after Emperor Taizong of Tang (r. 626–649) made his interest in sugar known, and China soon established its first sugarcane cultivation in the seventh century.[13] Chinese documents confirm at least two missions to India, initiated in 647 AD, for obtaining technology for sugar-refining.[14] In South Asia, the Middle East and China, sugar became a staple of cooking and desserts. In the year 1792, sugar rose by degrees to an enormous price in Great Britain. The East India Company was then called upon to lend their assistance to help in the lowering of the price of sugar. On 15 March 1792, his Majesty's Ministers to the British Parliament, presented a report related to the production of refined sugar in British India. Lieutenant J. Paterson, of the Bengal establishment, reported that refined sugar could be produced in India[15] with many superior advantages, and a lot more cheaply than in the West Indies.

text: Early refining methods involved grinding or pounding the cane in order to extract the juice, and then boiling down the juice or drying it in the sun to yield sugary solids that looked like gravel. The Sanskrit word for "sugar" (sharkara) also means "gravel" or "sand". Similarly, the Chinese use the term "gravel sugar" (Traditional Chinese: 砂糖) for what the West knows as "table sugar".

text: Cane sugar in the medieval era in the Muslim World and Europe[edit]

text: There are records of knowledge of sugar among the ancient Greeks and Romans, but only as an imported medicine, and not as a food. For example, the Greek physician Dioscorides in the 1st century (AD) wrote: "There is a kind of coalesced honey called sakcharon [i.e. sugar] found in reeds in India and Eudaimon Arabia [i.e. Yemen[17]] similar in consistency to salt and brittle enough to be broken between the teeth like salt. It is good dissolved in water for the intestines and stomach, and [can be] taken as a drink to help [relieve] a painful bladder and kidneys."[18] Pliny the Elder, a 1st-century (AD) Roman, also described sugar as medicinal: "Sugar is made in Arabia as well, but Indian sugar is better. It is a kind of honey found in cane, white as gum, and it crunches between the teeth. It comes in lumps the size of a hazelnut. Sugar is used only for medical purposes."[19]

text: During the medieval era, Arab entrepreneurs adopted sugar production techniques from India and expanded the industry. Medieval Arabs in some cases set up large plantations equipped with on-site sugar mills or refineries. The cane sugar plant, which is native to a tropical climate, requires both a lot of water and a lot of heat to thrive. The cultivation of the plant spread throughout the medieval Arab world using artificial irrigation. Sugar cane was first grown extensively in medieval Southern Europe during the period of Arab rule in Sicily beginning around the 9th century known as the Emirate of Sicily .[20][21] In addition to Sicily, Spain which at the time was known as Al-Andalus was an important center of sugar production [22] beginning in the 9th century.[23] Sugar was exported throughout Europe. The volume of imports increased in the later medieval centuries as indicated by the increasing references to sugar consumption in late medieval Western writings. But cane sugar remained an expensive import. Its price per pound in 14th and 15th century England was about equally as high as imported spices from tropical Asia such as mace (nutmeg), ginger, cloves, and pepper, which had to be transported across the Indian Ocean in that era.[2]

text: Ponting traces the spread of the cultivation of sugarcane from its introduction into Mesopotamia, then the Levant and the islands of the eastern Mediterranean, especially Cyprus, by the 10th century.[24] He also notes that it spread along the coast of East Africa to reach Zanzibar.[24]

text: Crusaders brought sugar home with them to Europe after their campaigns in the Holy Land, where they encountered caravans carrying "sweet salt". Early in the 12th century, Venice acquired some villages near Tyre and set up estates to produce sugar for export to Europe, where it supplemented honey as the only other available sweetener.[25] Crusade chronicler William of Tyre, writing in the late 12th century, described sugar as "a most precious product, very necessary for the use and health of mankind".[26] The first record of sugar in English is in the late 13th century.[27]

text: Ponting recounts the reliance on slavery of the early European sugar entrepreneurs:

text: The crucial problem with sugar production was that it was highly labour-intensive in both growing and processing. Because of the huge weight and bulk of the raw cane it was very costly to transport, especially by land, and therefore each estate had to have its own factory. There the cane had to be crushed to extract the juices, which were boiled to concentrate them, in a series of backbreaking and intensive operations lasting many hours. However, once it had been processed and concentrated, the sugar had a very high value for its bulk and could be traded over long distances by ship at a considerable profit. The [European sugar] industry only began on a major scale after the loss of the Levant to a resurgent Islam and the shift of production to Cyprus under a mixture of Crusader aristocrats and Venetian merchants. The local population on Cyprus spent most of their time growing their own food and few would work on the sugar estates. The owners therefore brought in slaves from the Black Sea area (and a few from Africa) to do most of the work. The level of demand and production was low and therefore so was the trade in slaves — no more than about a thousand people a year. It was not much larger when sugar production began in Sicily.

text: In the Atlantic ocean [the Canaries, Madeira, and the Cape Verde Islands], once the initial exploitation of the timber and raw materials was over, it rapidly became clear that sugar production would be the most profitable way of getting money from the new territories. The problem was the heavy labour involved because the Europeans refused to work except as supervisors. The solution was to bring in slaves from Africa. The crucial developments in this trade began in the 1440's...[25]

text: During the 1390s, a better press was developed, which doubled the amount of juice that was obtained from the sugarcane and helped to cause the economic expansion of sugar plantations to Andalusia and to the Algarve. It started in Madeira in 1455, using advisers from Sicily and (largely) Genoese capital for the mills. The accessibility of Madeira attracted Genoese and Flemish traders keen to bypass Venetian monopolies. "By 1480 Antwerp had some seventy ships engaged in the Madeira sugar trade, with the refining and distribution concentrated in Antwerp. The 1480's saw sugar production extended to the Canary Islands. By the 1490's Madeira had overtaken Cyprus as a producer of sugar."[28] African slaves also worked in the sugar plantations of the Kingdom of Castile around Valencia.[28]

text: In the 16th century Rabbi Yosef Karo, the author of the Shulchan Aruch, the code of Jewish law, mentions the use of sugar mixed with the juice of lemons and water by Jews in Cairo, Egypt to make lemonade on Sabbath. (Orech Chayim, Hilchot Shabbat)

text: Sugar cultivation in the New World[edit]

text: The Portuguese took sugar to Brazil. By 1540, there were 800 cane sugar mills in Santa Catarina Island and there were another 2,000 on the north coast of Brazil, Demarara, and Surinam. The first sugar harvest happened in Hispaniola in 1501; and many sugar mills had been constructed in Cuba and Jamaica by the 1520s.[29]

text: The approximately 3,000 small sugar mills that were built before 1550 in the New World created an unprecedented demand for cast iron gears, levers, axles and other implements. Specialist trades in mold-making and iron casting developed in Europe due to the expansion of sugar production. Sugar mill construction sparked development of the technological skills needed for a nascent industrial revolution in the early 17th century.[29]

text: After 1625, the Dutch carried sugarcane from South America to the Caribbean islands, where it was grown from Barbados to the Virgin Islands.

text: Contemporaries often compared the worth of sugar with valuable commodities including musk, pearls, and spices. Sugar prices declined slowly as its production became multi-sourced, especially through British colonial policy. Formerly an indulgence of only the rich, the consumption of sugar also became increasingly common among the poor as well. Sugar production increased in mainland North American colonies, in Cuba, and in Brazil. The labour force at first included European indentured servants and local Native American slaves. However, European diseases such as smallpox and African ones such as malaria and yellow fever soon reduced the numbers of local Native Americans.[29] Europeans were also very susceptible to malaria and yellow fever, and the supply of indentured servants was limited. African slaves became the dominant source of plantation workers because they were more resistant to malaria and yellow fever, and because the supply of slaves was abundant on the African coast.[30][31]

text: During the 18th century, sugar became enormously popular. Britain, for example, consumed five times as much sugar in 1770 as in 1710.[32] By 1750 sugar surpassed grain as "the most valuable commodity in European trade — it made up a fifth of all European imports and in the last decades of the century four-fifths of the sugar came from the British and French colonies in the West Indies."[32] The sugar market went through a series of booms. The heightened demand and production of sugar came about to a large extent due to a great change in the eating habits of many Europeans. For example, they began consuming jams, candy, tea, coffee, cocoa, processed foods, and other sweet victuals in much greater amount. Reacting to this increasing craze, the islands took advantage of the situation and set about producing still more sugar. In fact, they produced up to ninety percent of the sugar that the western Europeans consumed. Some islands proved more successful than others when it came to producing the product. In Barbados and the British Leeward Islands sugar provided 93% and 97% respectively of exports.

text: Planters later began developing ways to boost production even more. For example, they began using more farming methods when growing their crops. They also developed more advanced mills and began using better types of sugarcane. In the eighteenth century "the French colonies were the most successful, especially Saint-Domingue, where better irrigation, water-power and machinery, together with concentration on newer types of sugar, increased profits."[32] Despite these and other improvements, the price of sugar reached soaring heights, especially during events such as the revolt against the Dutch[33] and the Napoleonic Wars. Sugar remained in high demand, and the islands' planters knew exactly how to take advantage of the situation.

text: As Europeans established sugar plantations on the larger Caribbean islands, prices fell, especially in Britain. By the 18th century all levels of society had become common consumers of the former luxury product. At first most sugar in Britain went into tea, but later confectionery and chocolates became extremely popular. Many Britons (especially children) also ate jams.[34] Suppliers commonly sold sugar in the form of a sugarloaf and consumers required sugar nips, a pliers-like tool, to break off pieces.

text: Sugarcane quickly exhausts the soil in which it grows, and planters pressed larger islands with fresher soil into production in the nineteenth century as demand for sugar in Europe continued to increase: "average consumption in Britain rose from four pounds per head in 1700 to eighteen pounds in 1800, thirty-six pounds by 1850 and over one hundred pounds by the twentieth century."[35] In the 19th century Cuba rose to become the richest land in the Caribbean (with sugar as its dominant crop) because it formed the only major island landmass free of mountainous terrain. Instead, nearly three-quarters of its land formed a rolling plain — ideal for planting crops. Cuba also prospered above other islands because Cubans used better methods when harvesting the sugar crops: they adopted modern milling methods such as watermills, enclosed furnaces, steam engines, and vacuum pans. All these technologies increased productivity. Cuba also retained slavery longer than the most of the rest of the Caribbean islands.[36]

text: After the Haitian Revolution established the independent state of Haiti, sugar production in that country declined and Cuba replaced Saint-Domingue as the world's largest producer.

text: Long established in Brazil, sugar production spread to other parts of South America, as well as to newer European colonies in Africa and in the Pacific, where it became especially important in Fiji. Mauritius, Natal and Queensland in Australia started growing sugar. The older and newer sugar production areas now tended to use indentured labour rather than slaves, with workers "shipped across the world ... [and] ... held in conditions of near slavery for up to ten years... In the second half of the nineteenth century over 450,000 indentured labourers went from India to the British West Indies, others went to Natal, Mauritius and Fiji (where they became a majority of the population). In Queensland workers from the Pacific islands were moved in. On Hawaii, they came from China and Japan. The Dutch transferred large numbers of people from Java to Surinam."[37] It is said that the sugar plantations would not have thrived without the aid of the African slaves. In Colombia, the planting of sugar started very early on, and entrepreneurs imported many African slaves to cultivate the fields. The industrialization of the Colombian industry started in 1901 with the establishment of Manuelita, the first steam-powered sugar mill in South America, by Latvian Jewish immigrant James Martin Eder.

text: The rise of beet sugar[edit]

text: In 1747 the German chemist Andreas Marggraf identified sucrose in beet root.[38] This discovery remained a mere curiosity for some time, but eventually Marggraf's student Franz Achard built a sugar beet processing factory at Cunern in Silesia (in present-day Konary in Poland), under the patronage of King Frederick William III of Prussia (reigned 1797–1840). While never profitable, this plant operated from 1801 until it suffered destruction during the Napoleonic Wars (ca. 1802–1815).

text: Napoleon, cut off from Caribbean imports by a British blockade, and at any rate not wanting to fund British merchants, banned imports of sugar in 1813. A beet sugar industry emerged, especially after Jean-Baptiste Quéruel industrialized the operation of Benjamin Delessert.

text: In the developed countries, the sugar industry relies on machinery with a low requirement for manpower. A large beet refinery producing around 1,500 tonnes of sugar a day needs a permanent workforce of about 150 for 24-hour production.

text: Sugar beets provide approximately 30% of world sugar production.

text: Mechanization[edit]

text: Beginning in the late 18th century, the production of sugar became increasingly mechanized. The steam engine first powered a sugar mill in Jamaica in 1768, and soon after, steam replaced direct firing as the source of process heat.

text: In 1813 the British chemist Edward Charles Howard invented a method of refining sugar that involved boiling the cane juice not in an open kettle, but in a closed vessel heated by steam and held under partial vacuum. At reduced pressure, water boils at a lower temperature, and this development both saved fuel and reduced the amount of sugar lost through caramelization. Further gains in fuel-efficiency came from the multiple-effect evaporator, designed by the United States engineer Norbert Rillieux (perhaps as early as the 1820s, although the first working model dates from 1845). This system consisted of a series of vacuum pans, each held at a lower pressure than the previous one. The vapors from each pan served to heat the next, with minimal heat wasted. Modern industries use multiple-effect evaporators for evaporating water.

text: The process of separating sugar from molasses also received mechanical attention: David Weston first applied the centrifuge to this task in Hawaii in 1852.

text: Other sweeteners[edit]

text: In the United States and Japan, high-fructose corn syrup has replaced sugar in some uses, particularly in soft drinks and processed foods.

text: The process by which high-fructose corn syrup is produced was first developed by Richard O. Marshall and Earl R. Kooi in 1957.[39] The industrial production process was refined by Dr. Y. Takasaki at Agency of Industrial Science and Technology of Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan in 1965–1970. High-fructose corn syrup was rapidly introduced to many processed foods and soft drinks in the United States from around 1975 to 1985.

text: A system of sugar tariffs and sugar quotas imposed in 1977 in the United States significantly increased the cost of imported sugar and U.S. producers sought cheaper sources. High-fructose corn syrup, derived from corn, is more economical because the domestic U.S. and Canadian prices of sugar are twice the global price[40] and the price of corn is kept low through government subsidies paid to growers.[41][42] High-fructose corn syrup became an attractive substitute, and is preferred over cane sugar among the vast majority of American food and beverage manufacturers. Soft drink makers such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi use sugar in other nations, but switched to high-fructose corn syrup in the United States in 1984.[43]

text: The average American consumed approximately 37.8 lb (17.1 kg) of high-fructose corn syrup in 2008, versus 46.7 lb (21.2 kg) of sucrose.[44]

text: In recent years it has been hypothesized that the increase of high-fructose corn syrup usage in processed foods may be linked to various health conditions, including metabolic syndrome, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hepatic steatosis, insulin resistance, and obesity. However, there is to date little evidence that high-fructose corn syrup is any unhealthier, calorie for calorie, than sucrose or other simple sugars. The fructose content and fructose:glucose ratio of high-fructose corn syrup do not differ markedly from clarified apple juice.[45] Some researchers hypothesize that fructose may trigger the process by which fats are formed, to a greater extent than other simple sugars.[46] However, most commonly used blends of high-fructose corn syrup contain a nearly one-to-one ratio of fructose and glucose, just like common sucrose, and should therefore be metabolically identical after the first steps of sucrose metabolism, in which the sucrose is split into fructose and glucose components. At the very least, the increasing prevalence of high-fructose corn syrup has certainly led to an increase in added sugar calories in food, which may reasonably increase the incidence of these and other diseases.[47]


document_title: Longest-lasting light bulbs

question_text: where is the oldest light bulb that is still working

root

text: Longest-lasting light bulbs

text: Longest-lasting light bulb[edit]

text: The world's longest lasting light bulb is the Centennial Light located at 4550 East Avenue, Livermore, California. It is maintained by the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department. The fire department claims that the bulb is at least 116 years old (installed 1901) and has only been turned off a handful of times. The bulb has been noted by The Guinness Book of World Records, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and General Electric as being the world's longest-lasting light bulb.

tag: p

text: While it might seem astonishing that so many longest-lasting light bulbs have been so infrequently turned off, this is the precise reason for their longevity. Most of the wear and tear that leads to burnouts in incandescent light bulbs is caused by turning them on and off, not by burning them. Each time the bulb is turned on and off, the filament is heated and cooled. This causes the material of the filament to expand and contract, in turn causing micro stress cracks to develop. The more the light is turned on and off, the larger these cracks grow, until eventually the filament breaks at some point, in non-spectacular fashion, thus causing the light to burn out.[citation needed] Another reason for the longevity of bulbs is the size, quality and material of the filament.

text: Other long lasting light bulbs[edit]

text: Second[edit]

text: The second longest-lasting light bulb is in Fort Worth, Texas. The bulb, known as the Eternal Light, was credited as being the longest-lasting bulb in the 1970 edition of the The Guinness Book of World Records, two years before the discovery of the Livermore bulb.[1] It was originally at the Byers Opera House, and was installed by a stage-hand, Barry Burke, on September 21, 1908, above the backstage door. The theater was demolished in 1977 and the bulb was transported to a museum located in the Livestock Exchange Building. Since its installation in the museum, it has only been turned off once — by accident — before being put on its own, unswitched, circuit.

text: There is another working 1908 lightbulb in Norway, in the "Kongevognen"(King's wagon) from Thamshavnsbanen railway in Trøndelag, Norway. The bulb is one of the original bulbs of the wagon that was ordered built by Christian Thams in 1908, and was delivered by the Edison factory in the United States. The wagon is now part of a museum, and the light bulb is in use several times per week.

text: Third[edit]

text: The third longest-lasting light bulb was above the back door of Gasnick Supply, a New York City hardware store on Second Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd Streets. It was installed in 1912, according to store owner Jack Gasnick. Apparently Gasnick tried several times to discredit the Centennial Light in Livermore. In 1981 he wrote to Dear Abby and claimed that the Livermore bulb had burned out, although it had not. In 1983, he wrote to Guinness and claimed that the Livermore bulb was a fraud. In his opinion as a trained electrical technician, the socket for the bulb was incorrect for its age. He also pointed out that there were no carbon deposits on the inside of the glass, unlike his bulb, which was filthy. He then declared his bulb to be the world's oldest, seemingly unaware of the bulb in Fort Worth.[2]

text: It is not known what happened to Gasnick and his bulb. The store, and the entire half-block on which it stood, were torn down in 2003.

text: Fourth[edit]

text: The fourth longest-lasting light bulb is located in a fire house in Mangum, Oklahoma. The bulb is not attached to any special electrical supply, and when the power goes off, so does the bulb.[2] The firefighters in Mangum are willing to show people the bulb as long as they're not busy with something else.

text: Fifth[edit]

text: The fifth longest-lasting light bulb was in a washroom at the Martin & Newby Electrical Shop in Ipswich, England. Given its shape and design, it was thought to date from the 1930s. It burned out in January 2001.

text: Edison and the Eternal Light[edit]

text: Thomas Edison designed a bulb that was supposed to last forever, called the Eternal Light, and turned it on on October 22, 1929. The bulb is located in the Memorial Tower at the Edison Memorial Museum in Menlo Park, New Jersey. The tower fell down in 1937, but the bulb's power was supposedly uninterrupted, according to General Electric, and the bulb continued to burn while a second tower was constructed. However, according to museum curator Jack Stanley, the bulb is fake, consisting of a hollow bulb illuminated by a series of automobile headlights mounted in the display's base.[2]


document_title: Surface-area-to-volume ratio

question_text: what has more surface area cube or sphere

text: Surface-area-to-volume ratio

text: Dimension[edit]

text: The surface-area-to-volume ratio has physical dimension L−1 (inverse length) and is therefore expressed in units of inverse distance. As an example, a cube with sides of length 1 cm will have a surface area of 6 cm2 and a volume of 1 cm3. The surface to volume ratio for this cube is thus

text: For a given shape, SA:V is inversely proportional to size. A cube 2 cm on a side has a ratio of 3 cm−1, half that of a cube 1 cm on a side. Conversely, preserving SA:V as size increases requires changing to a less compact shape.

text: Physical chemistry[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: Materials with high surface area to volume ratio (e.g. very small diameter, very porous, or otherwise not compact) react at much faster rates than monolithic materials, because more surface is available to react. Examples include grain dust; while grain isn't typically flammable, grain dust is explosive. Finely ground salt dissolves much more quickly than coarse salt.

text: High surface area to volume ratio provides a strong "driving force" to speed up thermodynamic processes that minimize free energy.

text: Biology[edit]

text: The ratio between the surface area and volume of cells and organisms has an enormous impact on their biology, including their physiology and behavior. For example, many aquatic microorganisms have increased surface area to increase their drag in the water. This reduces their rate of sink and allows them to remain near the surface with less energy expenditure.[citation needed]

text: An increased surface area to volume ratio also means increased exposure to the environment. The finely-branched appendages of filter feeders such as krill provide a large surface area to sift the water for food.[1]

text: Individual organs like the lung have numerous internal branchings that increase the surface area; in the case of the lung, the large surface supports gas exchange, bringing oxygen into the blood and releasing carbon dioxide from the blood.[2][3] Similarly, the small intestine has a finely wrinkled internal surface, allowing the body to absorb nutrients efficiently.[4]

text: Cells can achieve a high surface area to volume ratio with an elaborately convoluted surface, like the microvilli lining the small intestine.[5]

text: Increased surface area can also lead to biological problems. More contact with the environment through the surface of a cell or an organ (relative to its volume) increases loss of water and dissolved substances. High surface area to volume ratios also present problems of temperature control in unfavorable environments.[citation needed]

text: The surface to volume ratios of organisms of different sizes also leads to some biological rules such as Bergmann's rule[6][7][8] and gigantothermy.[9]

text: Fire spread[edit]

text: In the context of wildfires, the ratio of the surface area of a solid fuel to its volume is an important measurement. Fire spread behavior is frequently correlated to the surface-area-to-volume ratio of the fuel (e.g. leaves and branches). The higher its value, the faster a particle responds to changes in environmental conditions, such as temperature or moisture. Higher values are also correlated to shorter fuel ignition times, and hence faster fire spread rates.

text: Mathematical examples[edit]

text:
Shape

Characteristic Length

a

{\displaystyle a}

Surface Area
Volume
SA/V ratio
SA/V ratio for unit volume

Tetrahedron

side

3

a

2

{\displaystyle {\sqrt {3}}a^{2}}

2

a

3

12

{\displaystyle {\frac {{\sqrt {2}}a^{3}}{12}}}

6

6

a

≈

14.697
a

{\displaystyle {\frac {6{\sqrt {6}}}{a}}\approx {\frac {14.697}{a}}}

7.21

Cube

side

6

a

2

{\displaystyle 6a^{2}}

a

3

{\displaystyle a^{3}}

6
a

{\displaystyle {\frac {6}{a}}}

6

Octahedron

side

2

3

a

2

{\displaystyle 2{\sqrt {3}}a^{2}}

1
3

2

a

3

{\displaystyle {\frac {1}{3}}{\sqrt {2}}a^{3}}

3

6

a

≈

7.348
a

{\displaystyle {\frac {3{\sqrt {6}}}{a}}\approx {\frac {7.348}{a}}}

5.72

Dodecahedron

side

3

25
+
10

5

a

2

{\displaystyle 3{\sqrt {25+10{\sqrt {5}}}}a^{2}}

1
4

(
15
+
7

5

)

a

3

{\displaystyle {\frac {1}{4}}(15+7{\sqrt {5}})a^{3}}

12

25
+
10

5

(
15
+
7

5

)
a

≈

2.694
a

{\displaystyle {\frac {12{\sqrt {25+10{\sqrt {5}}}}}{(15+7{\sqrt {5}})a}}\approx {\frac {2.694}{a}}}

5.31

Capsule

radius (R)

4
π

a

2

+
2
π
a
∗
2
a
=
8
π

a

2

{\displaystyle 4\pi a^{2}+2\pi a*2a=8\pi a^{2}}

4
π

a

3

3

+
π

a

2

∗
2
a
=

10
π

a

3

3

{\displaystyle {\frac {4\pi a^{3}}{3}}+\pi a^{2}*2a={\frac {10\pi a^{3}}{3}}}

12

5
a

{\displaystyle {\frac {12}{5a}}}

5.251

Icosahedron

side

5

3

a

2

{\displaystyle 5{\sqrt {3}}a^{2}}

5
12

(
3
+

5

)

a

3

{\displaystyle {\frac {5}{12}}(3+{\sqrt {5}})a^{3}}

12

3

(
3
+

5

)
a

≈

3.970
a

{\displaystyle {\frac {12{\sqrt {3}}}{(3+{\sqrt {5}})a}}\approx {\frac {3.970}{a}}}

5.148

Sphere

radius

4
π

a

2

{\displaystyle 4\pi a^{2}}

4
π

a

3

3

{\displaystyle {\frac {4\pi a^{3}}{3}}}

3
a

{\displaystyle {\frac {3}{a}}}

4.836

text:
Example Table

side of cube
side2
Area of side
6*side2
Area of Cube's Surface
side3
Volume
Ratio of Surface Area to Volume

2
2x2
4
6x2x2
24
2x2x2
8
3:1

4
4x4
16
6x4x4
96
4x4x4
64
3:2

6
6x6
36
6x6x6
216
6x6x6
216
3:3

8
8x8
64
6x8x8
384
8x8x8
512
3:4

12
12x12
144
6x12x12
864
12x12x12
1728
3:6

20
20x20
400
6x20x20
2400
20x20x20
8000
3:10

50
50x50
2500
6x50x50
15000
50x50x50
125000
3:25

1000
1000x1000
1000000
6x1000x1000
6000000
1000x1000x1000
1000000000
3:500


document_title: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

question_text: king arthur legend of the sword who was the mage

text: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

text: Plot[edit]

text: Mordred, an iron fisted warlock, and his armies lay siege to Camelot, seeking to establish the dominance of magic-wielding mages over humankind. Uther Pendragon, king of the Britons, infiltrates Mordred's lair and beheads him, saving Camelot. Uther's treacherous brother Vortigern, who covets the throne, orchestrates a coup and sacrifices his wife Elsa to moat hags to become a demon knight, who kills Uther's wife and slays him in combat. The only survivor is Uther's son, who drifts away in a boat and ends up in Londinium, where he is found and raised by prostitutes.

text: Arthur grows into a skilled fighter and man of the streets. Arthur and his friends confront a group of Vikings who had mistreated one of the prostitutes, forcing him to pay her restitution. Afterwards, the brothel is raided by the Blacklegs, Vortigern's minions, and Arthur learns that the Vikings were under the king's protection. Arthur tries to escape the city but is caught and put on a ship with hundreds of other men; the Blacklegs have been forcing all men of Arthur's age to try to pull a sword that has appeared near the castle from the surrounding stone. Arthur is able to remove the sword but is quickly overwhelmed by its power and passes out. Vortigern meets with him in the dungeon, revealing his true lineage.

text: Meanwhile, a mage identifying herself as an acolyte of Merlin presents herself to Uther's former general, Sir Bedivere. At Arthur's planned execution, the mage uses her magic to stage a diversion while Bedivere's men rescue Arthur. Taken to Bedivere's hideout, Arthur initially refuses to help them. The mage persuades Bedivere to take Arthur to a realm called the "Darklands," where he's given a vision of how Uther sacrificed himself to save Arthur and entomb the sword in stone. Arthur learns Vortigern was responsible for persuading Mordred to rebel against humanity, and he returns determined to destroy Vortigen.

text: With his friends and Bedivere's men, Arthur stages a series of ambushes against Vortigern, culminating in an assassination attempt in Londinium. The rebels sense a trap but attack anyway, fleeing to a fighters' school run by Arthur's mentor George, where they are overrun by the Blacklegs. Seeing the mage held at knifepoint, Arthur unleashes Excalibur's potential, single-handedly killing all of the soldiers. The rebels are able to escape the city except for Arthur's injured friend Back Lack, who is killed at Vortigern's hand.

text: Ashamed of his failures, Arthur tries to throw away the sword, but the Lady of the Lake returns it and shows him a vision of England's future under Vortigern's rule. Coming to terms with his responsibility, Arthur reunites with Bedivere. When they return to the rebel hideout, however, they discover all of their allies dead, Vortigern having found them and delivered an ultimatum: if Arthur does not surrender himself, the captured mage and Back Lack's son Blue will die.

text: Arthur surrenders himself, but as Vortigern is about to execute his nephew, a giant snake summoned by the mage attacks and devours Vortigern's men. While Bedivere and the others lead an attack on the castle, a desperate Vortigern sacrifices his only daughter and is transformed into the demon knight, confronting Arthur in a separate dimension. Despite his fighting skill, Arthur is beaten, and he is about to submit when he witnesses a vision of his father, convincing him to accept the sword and his character as his own. Arthur violently slays Vortigern but blesses him as he dies.

text: In the aftermath, Arthur dissolves Vortigern's pact with the Vikings and begins building a Round Table where his knighted friends will meet. Blue and the prostitutes arrive with the crown of Uther, which Arthur accepts, holding the sword aloft.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Charlie Hunnam as King Arthur, Uther's son, Vortigern's nephew and the would-be king of Britain who was raised by prostitutes.
Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as the Mage, a woman working for Merlin who supports Arthur and the resistance.
Djimon Hounsou as Sir Bedivere, the leader of the resistance and a former knight of Uther.
Aidan Gillen as Goosefat Bill, a skilled archer, Bedivere's friend, former knight of Uther and member of the resistance.
Jude Law as Vortigern, Uther's brother, Elsa's husband, Catia's father, Arthur's uncle and the tyrannical ruthless king of Britain.
Eric Bana as Uther Pendragon, Vortigern's brother, Arthur's father and the king of Britain.
Kingsley Ben-Adir as Sir Tristan "Wet Stick", Arthur and Back Lack's childhood friend who is later knighted by Bedivere.
Craig McGinlay as Sir Percival, a member of the resistance who is later turned knighted by Bedivere.
Tom Wu as Sir George, Arthur's mentor and a skilled fighter who helps the resistance and is later knighted by Bedivere.
Neil Maskell as Back Lack, Arthur and Tristan's childhood friend and Blue's father, who helps the resistance.
Freddie Fox as Rubio, a member of the resistance who later betrays them under torture and helps Vortigern.
Annabelle Wallis as Maggie, Vortigern's maid who helps the resistance.
Bleu Landau as Blue, Back Lack's son.
Mikael Persbrandt as Greybeard, a viking who has deals with Vortigern.
Poppy Delevingne as Igraine, Arthur's mother and Uther's wife: she is killed by Vortigern in the beginning of the film.

tag: ul

text: Kamil Lemieszewski, Jacqui Ainsley and Rob Knighton portrays Merlin, the Lady of the Lake and Mordred, three important characters from the Arthurian Mythology, respectively. Katie McGrath and Millie Brady portrays Vortigern's wife, Elsa, and daughter, Catia, respectively. David Beckham appears in a cameo. Lorraine Bruce, Eline Powell and Hermione Corfield appears as the three Syrens. Michael McElhatton portrays Jack's Eye, Arthur's scout on the kingdom. Nicola Wren portrays Lucy, the prostitute who raises Arthur.

text: Production[edit]

text: After 2004's King Arthur, Warner Brothers made multiple attempts to make a new film based on Arthurian legend: One was to be a remake of Excalibur, helmed by Bryan Singer, while the other was a movie to have been titled Arthur & Lancelot, which would have starred Kit Harington and Joel Kinnaman, as King Arthur and Lancelot respectively.[8] Warner Brothers suits worried that names were not big enough, and attempted to replace both actors with more profitable ones, before eventually dropping the project all together.[8]

text: Warner's next attempt to create a new King Arthur film was an attempt to create an Arthurian cinematic universe which would span six films, following different charters before their eventual team up.[8] For this endeavour they hired director Guy Ritchie, who has himself attempted to make a King Arthur movie prior to that. According to The Guardian, the script soon became "a strange Frankenstein's Monster-style screenplay" incorporating elements from several of the unproduced Arthurian scripts.[8]

text: Casting[edit]

text: In August 2014, Charlie Hunnam, Ritchie's choice for the role, was cast to play King Arthur.[9] Elizabeth Olsen was in talks for the female lead,[10] but on 18 September, Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey landed the role instead.[11] On 14 November, Jude Law was in talks to play the lead villain role in the film.[12] On 11 February 2015, Eric Bana was added to the cast to play Uther, the father of King Arthur.[13] Mikael Persbrandt joined the film on 6 March 2015, to play a villainous role.[14] Although there were reports Idris Elba had been cast, he would confirm, in a Reddit AMA, this was a rumour.[15][16]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Filming in Windsor Great Park was underway in February 2015,[17] then later in North Wales from 2 March 2015.[18] Later on 10 March 2015, Ritchie tweeted a photo and confirmed the first day of shooting.[citation needed] In April 2015, filming took place in Snowdonia, where locations used were Tryfan, Nant Gwynant near Beddgelert and Capel Curig.[19] Early in July filming continued in the Shieldaig, Loch Torridon and Applecross areas of Wester Ross in the Scottish Highlands. One day of filming also took place at The Quiraing on the Isle of Skye. Filming also took place at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden.

text: Release[edit]

text: In April 2014, Warner Bros. set the film for a July 22, 2016 release, alongside Lights Out, but it was then moved by Warner Bros. from its original release date of July 22, 2016 to February 17, 2017, alongside Maze Runner: The Death Cure.[20] Warner Bros. moved the release date from February 17, 2017 to March 24, 2017.[21] The title was changed to King Arthur: Legend of the Sword in July 2016.[22] In December 2016 the release date was again moved, this time to May 12, 2017, possibly so as not to compete with CHiPs.[23][24]

text: Promotion[edit]

text: The trailer was released on 23 July 2016, during the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con and was attached to screenings of Mechanic: Resurrection, Don't Breathe, Shut In, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

text: It was originally planned for an IMAX release on 22 July 2016, as evident in the Comic-Con trailer,[25] but was cancelled due to it being postponed and only received non-IMAX presentations. The first extended TV spot was released on 22 January 2017, and was shown on the 2017 NFC Championship Game on Fox Broadcasting Company between the Atlanta Falcons and the Green Bay Packers and the 2017 AFC Championship Game on CBS between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots.

text: A second trailer was released on 20 February 2017 and was attached to Logan, Kong: Skull Island, Power Rangers and Ghost in the Shell. The third and final trailer was released on 1 April 2017 and was attached to The Fate of the Furious, The Lost City of Z (which also starred Hunnam) and Free Fire. All-in-all, Warner Bros. spent $135 million on marketing the film.[7]

text: The film was shown at select AMC Theatres in a special preview on 27 April 2017, in a promotional event titled "King for a Day." Demand for tickets led AMC to expand the event to 200 theatres.[26]

text: Home media[edit]

text: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was released on DVD, Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray and Ultra HD on 8 August 2017.[27]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword grossed $39.2 million in the United States and Canada and $107 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $146.2 million, against a production budget of $175 million.[5]

text: In North America, the film was released alongside Snatched and was initially projected to gross around $25 million from 3,702 theatres during its opening weekend.[4] It made $1.15 million from Thursday night previews at about 3,200 theatres, but after making just $5.3 million on Friday, weekend projections were lowered to $15 million.[28] It ended up debuting to $15.4 million, finishing third at the box office. Deadline.com noted that due to the film's $175 million production budget, as well as at least an additional $100 million spent on marketing, the film was destined to be a box office bomb.[29] Regarding the cost of the film, the site quoted one finance expert as saying: "Make original IP [intellectual property] for a cost effective price. If it works then spend more if necessary on the sequel. King Arthur should have been done for $60M-$80M. Warner Bros. had no reason to spend $175M-plus on this picture."[7] Comparing its opening to cost, IndieWire called the film's failings "historic".[30] The Hollywood Reporter noted that the film would likely lose about $150 million.[31] In its second weekend the film grossed $7.2 million (a drop of 53.5%), finishing 5th at the box office.[32]

text: The film debuted at No. 1 in an estimated 29 countries, including Russia and Scandinavia, with openings to follow in the United Kingdom, France, South Korea, and Australia.[33] Over its opening weekend, it made only $29.1 million worldwide, in 51 non-American countries.[34]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 28% based on 217 reviews and an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword piles mounds of modern action flash on an age-old tale – and wipes out much of what made it a classic story in the first place."[35] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating, the film has a score 41 out of 100 based 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[36] On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale; 56% of the opening weekend filmgoers were under the age of 35, and 59% were men.[7]

text: Writing for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw gave the film a generally positive review: "Guy Ritchie’s cheerfully ridiculous Arthur is a gonzo monarch, a death-metal warrior-king. Ritchie’s film is at all times over the top, crashing around its digital landscapes in all manner of beserkness, sometimes whooshing along, sometimes stuck in the odd narrative doldrum. But it is often surprisingly entertaining, and whatever clunkers he has delivered in the past, Ritchie again shows that a film-maker of his craft and energy commands attention, and part of his confidence in reviving King Arthur resides here in being so unselfconscious and unconcerned about the student canon that has gone before."[37]

text: In a pan of the film for the Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips questioned the long-term longevity of the projected series of six Arthur films from Ritchie: "I'm no businessman, but plans for a six-film franchise may be optimistic. Optimism is nowhere to be found in Ritchie's movie itself. It is a grim and stupid thing, from one of the world's most successful mediocre filmmakers, and if Shakespeare's King Lear were blogging today, he'd supply the blurb quote: 'Nothing will come of nothing.'."[38] Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film one-and-a-half out of four stars, stating that despite the potential for a revisionist King Arthur story with "[t]he Ritchie sense of style", the overall problem is the film's lack of modulation: "Ritchie keeps rushing us along for two hours, as if to make absolutely certain that we never have time to absorb any character or moment, much less revel in the glorious, cheeky ridiculousness of the whole thing."[39]

text: Alissa Wilkinson of Vox writes that the film is "surprisingly good, and surprisingly political" in relation to the British withdrawal from the European Union, and "occasionally, it's even pretty great".[40]


document_title: History of the west coast of North America

question_text: the first european in america to see the pacific ocean was

text: History of the west coast of North America

text: Geography[edit]

text: As used in this article, the term "west coast of North America" means a contiguous region of that continent bordering the Pacific Ocean: all or parts of the U.S. states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California; all or parts of British Columbia and the Yukon in Canada; all or part of the Mexican states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas; and the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The eastern Islands of the Pacific Ocean off the west coast, such as the Coastal islands of the Californias, are also important.

text: First people[edit]

text: The west coast of North America likely saw the first sustained arrival of people to the continent. Although there are other theories, most scientists believe that the first significant groups of people came from Asia, through today's Bering Strait area, then through modern Alaska, and from there spread throughout North America and to South America.

text: Although the cultures on the west coast of today's Canada and United States are not known to have developed substantial urban centers and sophisticated writing or scientific systems, it is likely that, before European contact, the population density was significantly higher than in the rest of the northern part of the continent. For example, it has been estimated that in 1492, one-third of all Native Americans in the United States were living in California.[3]

text: In the western half of Mesoamerica (that is, western portions of today's Mexico and northern Central America), the oldest known settlements date to approximately 2000 BCE.[4] A succession of cultures started with the very early Capacha culture, which appeared on the Pacific coast of modern Mexico about 1450 BC and spread into the interior.[5] The following cultures developed into "high civilizations" in Mesoamerica, with extensive urban areas, writing, astronomy and fine arts:

text:
Olmec (beginning about 1150 BC)
Mixtec (beginning perhaps 1000 BC)
Maya (settled villages along the Pacific coast appear from 1800 BC, and ceremonial architecture by approximately 1000 BC) and
Aztec (from the 14th century AD)

text: Farther south, Panama was home to some of the earliest pottery-making, such as the Monagrillo culture dating to about 2500–1700 BC; this culture evolved into significant populations best known for spectacular burial sites (dating to c. 500–900 AD) and polychrome pottery of the Coclé style.

text: Each of these cultures rose, flourished, and was then conquered by a more militarily developed culture. While not all of these civilizations had large settlements along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, their influence extended to the Pacific coast.

text: Regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica—and especially along the west coast—have been the subject of considerable research. There is evidence of trade routes starting as far north as the Mexico Central Plateau, and going down to the Pacific coast. These trade routes and cultural contacts then went on as far as Central America. These networks operated along the west coast with various interruptions from pre-Olmec times and up to the Late Classical Period (600–900 CE).

text: European arrival (1513–1750)[edit]

text: In 1513, Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to reach the west coast of North America, on the Pacific coast of the Panama isthmus. From the point of view of European powers in the age of sailing ships, the west coast of North America was among the most distant places in the world. The arduous journey around Cape Horn at the tip of South America and then north meant nine to twelve months of dangerous sailing. These practical difficulties discouraged all but the Spanish Empire from making regular visits and establishing settlements and ports until the second half of the 18th century—some 200 years after Europeans first reached the east coast of North America.

text: Spanish explorers and conquistadors[edit]

text: Explorers flying the flag of Spain reached the New World beginning in 1492 with the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. Spanish expeditions colonized and explored vast areas in North and South America following the grants of the Pope (contained in the 1493 papal bull Inter caetera) and rights contained in the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas and 1529 Treaty of Zaragoza. These formal acts gave Spain the exclusive rights to colonize the entire Western Hemisphere (excluding eastern Brazil), including all of the west coast of North America. The first European expedition to actually reach the west coast was led by the Spaniard Vasco Núñez de Balboa, who reached the Pacific coast of Panama in 1513. In an act of enduring historical importance, Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean for the Spanish Crown, as well as all adjoining land and islands. This act gave Spain exclusive sovereignty and navigation rights over the entire west coast of North America.

text: The commonly held belief at the time was that the west coast of North America was in modest sailing distance of Asia to the west, or the two might actually physically connect. To the north was imagined a narrow Northwest Passage, known as the Strait of Anián, which some believed reached the Pacific Ocean at 42° north latitude (the latitude of today's border between Oregon and California) and connected to the Atlantic Ocean at the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Confirmation of the land connection, and discovery of this Strait of Anián, were key elements in Spain's efforts to establish direct trade routes with China and other countries in Asia. See Early knowledge of the Pacific Northwest.

text: The Pacific Coast of Mexico and Central America was not especially conducive to economic development during this era. The northern Mexican coast (including the Baja California Peninsula) was generally too dry for substantial agriculture or ranching that would support settlements. South of the deserts, the jungles of the Pacific Coast in Mexico and Central America, and the tropical diseases found there, were major obstacles to large-scale development.

text: Notable exceptions were the development of important Spanish ports at Puerto de Navidad and Acapulco in today's Mexico. While Navidad faded in importance, Acapulco became the primary port of the Spanish Empire on the west coast of North America, and was used as a base for exploratory expeditions north and trade routes with the Far East.[6]

text: From 1533–1535, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés personally sponsored and financed exploratory sailing voyages north from Acapulco, in a search for legendary riches reported to be in the site of today's California. In the third of these voyages, Cortés accompanied the voyage, and likely reached the site of today's La Paz on the Baja California peninsula.[7]

text: In 1539, another voyage financed and sponsored by Cortés, and led by Francisco de Ulloa, embarked on an expedition in three small vessels, sailing north from Acapulco to explore the Pacific Coast, and to seek the Strait of Anián. The expedition sailed northwards along the west coast of the Mexican mainland, and reached the Gulf of California six weeks later. Ulloa named the Gulf the "Sea of Cortés" in honor of his patron. When one of his ships was lost in a storm, Ulloa paused to repair the other two ships, and then resumed his voyage, eventually reaching the northern end of the Gulf. Unable to find the Strait of Anián, Ulloa turned south and sailed along the eastern coast of the Baja California peninsula, landing at the Bay of La Paz. After taking on supplies of wood and water, Ulloa rounded the tip of the peninsula with great difficulty and sailed northward along the western shore of the peninsula, in the Pacific Ocean. The progress of his small ships was hampered by the fierce winds and high seas he encountered, eventually forcing him to turn back to Acapulco. The voyage eventually reached 28° north latitude (near the Isla de Cedros).

text: Voyages in 1540 and 1541 to Baja California were sponsored by Cortés's rival, the Viceroy of New Spain. These voyages were led by Hernando de Alarcón (1540) and by Francisco de Bolaños (1541). The voyage by Alarcón was meant to be coordinated with Francisco Vásquez de Coronado's overland expedition; Alarcón penetrated the lower Colorado River, perhaps as far as the modern California-Arizona boundary (but did not meet up with Coronado's expedition). The voyage of Bolaños provided little new information not already known in New Spain. Application of the name California to this part of the west coast of North America is attributed by some to Bolaños,[8][9] however other insist that the name first appears in work written by Alarcón.[10]

text: The governor of Guatemala also determined to build a Pacific fleet on the west coast of Guatemala, for use in an attempt to cross the Pacific to Asia. Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer sailing for Spain, had shown in 1521 that the Pacific Ocean could be crossed from South America. Hence, beginning in 1536, using hardware from Spain (such as anchors) hauled across the isthmus of Central America, and local hardwoods, a flotilla of some thirteen ships was built over the next four years. After much difficulty, the larger number of these ships (under the command of Ruy López de Villalobos) was ordered to make the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean from North America to the Philippines. A smaller number was placed under the command of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator sailing for the Spanish Crown. Cabrillo was ordered north along the west coast of North America to explore the expected coastal route to reach the Asian mainland, as well as attempt to find the Strait of Anián.[6][11]

text: In 1542, Cabrillo became the first European to explore the west coast of today's United States, leading the expedition that landed at San Diego Bay, and continued north along the coast up to Punta del Año Nuevo, 37° 10' north of Monterrey. But Cabrillo died on January 3, 1543, and the remainder of the exploration was led by Bartolomé Ferrer, who sailed perhaps as far north as the Rogue River in today's western coast of Oregon.[12][13]

text: Importantly beginning in 1565, Acapulco was a home of the vital Manila Galleons. The Manila Galleons crossed the Pacific Ocean to the Spanish possession of the Philippines, laden with silver and gemstones from Mexico. There, the wealth was used to purchase Asian trade goods such as spices, silk, and porcelain. These goods were then carried across the Pacific by the Manila Galleons to Acapulco; from there, the goods were transshipped across Mexico, for delivery to the Spanish treasure fleet, for shipment to Spain. The income provided to Spain by the Manila Galleons was essential to the Spanish Crown and to the Spanish economy of the era.[14][15]

text: When Miguel López de Legazpi completed the conquest of the Philippines in 1565, he sent his flagship, the San Pedro, back to New Spain, with orders to survey and chart a practicable route for ships returning from the Islands. The San Pedro sailed from Cebu, headed roughly northeast, followed the Kuroshio Current (also known as the Japan Current), and made landfall on the coast of California about the latitude of Cape Mendocino. A sail of two thousand five hundred miles down the coasts of California and New Spain brought the voyagers to the port of Acapulco. This route was charted by the Basque navigator and friar Andrés de Urdaneta,[16] on board the San Pedro, and for nearly three centuries was the one followed by the galleons of Spain sailing from Manila to Acapulco. This return voyage across the Pacific could take up to seven months. A harbor on the coast of California where ships could find shelter and repair damage was greatly desired. A survey of the unknown northern Pacific coast of North America was ordered, and it was also suggested that the explorations be extended north of 42° north latitude.[15][17][18]

text: In 1585, Captain Francisco de Gali, on the return voyage from the Philippines, via Macao,[19] was directed to sail as far north as the weather would permit, and then east, and upon reaching the coast of California to make maps on his journey south. However, Gali accomplished only limited chart-making. He reached the California coast at latitude 37° 30' (Pillar Point—just south of today's San Francisco), and noted that the land was high and fair; that the mountains were without snow, and that there were many indications of rivers, bays, and havens along the coast.[6][17]

text: In 1594, Captain Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho, a Portuguese sailor in the service of Spain, sailed from the Philippines in the San Agustin with orders similar to those of Gali. In this attempt, he reached land between Point St. George and Trinidad Head on November 4, 1595. Following the line of the coast southwards, Cermeñon's ship became wrecked and was beached in Drake's Bay, north of San Francisco. Using salvaged and local materials, the crew constructed an open boat, and the ship's company of more than seventy persons continued the homeward voyage. This open vessel reached Acapulco in early 1596—a remarkable voyage of nearly twenty-five hundred miles in an open boat. With the loss of the San Agustin, exploration of the California coast by ships loaded with cargo from the Philippines came to an end.[15][17]

text: In 1602, the Basque captain Sebastián Vizcaíno, sailing for Spain, explored the coastline from Mexico as far north as Monterey Bay in today's California, where he went ashore. He ventured inland south along the coast, and recorded a visit to what is likely Carmel Bay. His major contributions were the glowing reports of the Monterey area as an anchorage and as land suitable for settlement, as well as the detailed charts he made of the coastal waters (which were used for nearly 200 years); however no settlements in today's California were established for the next 150 years.[20]

text: In the late 17th century, Spain sent the first missionaries into today's Baja California, founding the first mission there in 1683 at San Bruno on the east coast of the Baja peninsula (San Bruno was abandoned as unsuccessful after two years). In 1697, the first "permanent" mission was established at Loreto, about 20 miles (32 km) away from San Bruno, also on the east coast of the peninsula. During this period (until 1750), some 16 missions were established on the peninsula—mostly on the east coast of the peninsula, with a handful on the Pacific coast, in the northwestern part of the peninsula.[21]

text: English interest[edit]

text: Although it wasn't until 1579 that the west coast of North America was visited by an English explorer, the privateer Sir Francis Drake who landed north of today's San Francisco and claimed the area for England, calling it "New Albion" or New England, the English claim to this territory dates back to John Cabot's landing on Americas. The officially-accepted location for Drake's landing is at Drake's Estero (also known as "Drakes Bay," just north of San Francisco, in Marin County).[22][23] Despite the facts that no permanent settlements were ever established by Drake, and that the next official visit by the British would be some two hundred years later, Drake's action and Cabot's original claim in 1497 were the foundations of British claims to portions of the west coast of North America in the late 18th century. One of the most important consequences of these claims is that charters for the British colonies on the Atlantic coast went from sea to sea, and this was the foundation of the US claim to its current territory.

text: Settlements and conflicts (1750–1846)[edit]

text: While the Spanish had dominated development on the west coast of North America for over 200 years since the early 16th century, beginning in the mid-18th century, this period saw the advent of British and Russian rivals, and the establishment of the California missions, followed by the independence of Mexico and the Central American countries. Much later in this period, the United States started on its path to become the dominant power on the west coast of North America.

text: Spanish settlements in coastal New Spain[edit]

text: In the 1760s, a decision was made to create a harbor at San Blas (in today's Mexican state of Nayarit), for the purpose of building ships, supplying them, and being the expeditionary base for voyages north along the west coast of North America, from Baja California to Alaska. Today it remains unclear exactly why the Viceroy of New Spain decided to create an entirely new shipbuilding port along the west coast of Mexico, when the port at Acapulco already existed. It has been speculated that the reasons San Blas was chosen included that it was a week's sailing closer than Acapulco to the intended destination sites in California, that it was not far from the capital of New Spain, and perhaps more importantly, it had ready access to tropical hardwoods that would be needed to build the ships for the strenuous voyages as far north as today's Alaska. San Blas built the ships and was the home port for these exploration and supply voyages beginning in 1769 and continuing to 1820.[24]

text: Spanish missions[edit]

text: It was not until 1769 that the first missions were established in today's California (then called Las Californias), including the first mission, at San Diego in 1769, the mission at Monterey in 1770, and the mission at San Francisco in 1776. These missions eventually stretched from the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula to Sonoma, California, north of San Francisco. The purpose of the missions, which typically had an accompanying pueblo (town) and presidio (military outpost), was to solidify the 250-year-old Spanish claim to the region. This need became more urgent as the Russians and British were encroaching on the far northern part of the west coast of North America. In addition, there continued the long-standing interest in creating a safe anchorage for seaworn Manila Galleons on their return to Acapulco.

text: Russian settlements[edit]

text: Explorers and fur trappers from the Russian Empire (beginning with Semyon Dezhnev expedition of 1630) arrived on the Pacific coast of today's Alaska, and after establishing settlements there (beginning in 1784), expanded hunting and trading down the west coast of North America. In the early 19th century, fur trappers of the Russian Empire explored the west coast of North America, hunting for sea otter pelts as far south as San Diego. In 1812, the Russian-American Company set up a fortified trading post at Fort Ross, located north of present-day Bodega Bay some sixty miles north of San Francisco, with the never-materialized hope of using that area to develop a source of agricultural products needed for their settlements in Alaska.

text: Spanish exploration[edit]

text: In the late 18th century, Spain reacted to the expanding Russian and British presence in the Pacific Northwest by sending exploratory expeditions along the coast as far north as Alaska. In 1774 Juan José Pérez Hernández was commissioned to explore the coast up to 60° N, but only made it as far as 55°30´ N. Off Langara Island in Haida Gwaii he made contact with the Haida, and on the homeward journey, the Nuu-chah-nulth.[25] In 1775, a two-ship exploration expedition led by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta landed on the coast of today's Washington—the first European to have sailed this far north along the coast. The expedition re-asserted Spanish claims to all the coastal lands, including to the Russian settlements in the north. The two ships sailed together as far north as Point Grenville, named Punta de los Martires (or "Point of the Martyrs") by Heceta in response to an attack by the local Quinault Indians. He was the first European to sight the mouth of the Columbia River.

text: By design, the two vessels separated with one continuing to what is today the border between Washington state and Canada. The other (now with second officer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra at the helm) moved up the coast according to its orders, ultimately reaching a position at 59° north latitude on August 15, 1775, entering Sitka Sound near the present-day town of Sitka, Alaska. It is there that the Spaniards performed numerous "acts of sovereignty," naming and claiming Puerto de Bucareli (Bucareli Sound), Puerto de los Remedios, and Mount San Jacinto (renamed Mount Edgecumbe by British explorer James Cook three years later).

text: In 1790, Spanish explorer Salvador Fidalgo led an expedition that included visits to the sites of today's Cordova, Alaska and Valdez, Alaska, where acts of sovereignty were performed. Fidalgo went as far as today's Kodiak Island, visiting the small Russian settlement there. Fidalgo then went to the Russian settlement at Alexandrovsk (today's English Bay or Nanwalek, Alaska), southwest of today's Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula, where again, Fidalgo re-asserted the Spanish claim to the area by conducting a formal ceremony of sovereignty.

text: In 1791, the Malaspina Expedition undertook a search for the Northwest Passage, surveying the Alaska coast from Yakutat Bay to Prince William Sound. At Yakutat Bay, the expedition made contact with the Tlingit. The expedition's scientists made a study of the tribe, recording information on social mores, language, economy, warfare methods, and burial practices. Artists with the expedition, Tomas de Suria and José Cardero, produced portraits of tribal members and scenes of Tlingit daily life. A glacier between Yakutat Bay and Icy Bay was subsequently named after Malaspina. The botanist Luis Née also accompanied the expedition, during which he collected and described numerous new plants.

text: During the return to Mexico, Malaspina's expedition spent a month at the Spanish outpost in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island (see below). The expedition made a study of the Nootka. The two ships then sailed south to Mexico, stopping at the Spanish settlement and mission at Monterey, California on the way. Simultaneously an expedition under Francisco de Eliza, exploring the Strait of Juan de Fuca, discovered an entrance to the Strait of Georgia, which prompted further investigation. In Acapulco, Malaspina took over two schooners, the Sutil and Mexicana, placed them under the command of one of his officers, Dionisio Alcalá Galiano, and had them sail north to explore the Strait of Georgia. Galiano's expedition took place in 1792 at the same time as that of George Vancouver. The two expeditions met in the Strait of Georgia and worked together to map the waters and establish the insularity of Vancouver Island.[26]

text: Today, Spain's legacy endures as dozens of Spanish place names. In Alaska these include the Malaspina Glacier and Cordova Glacier, the towns of Valdez, Cordova and Port Gravina, as well as Orca Bay, Cordova Peak, and Revillagigedo Island.[27] In British Columbia some of the better-known Spanish names (of many) include Quadra Island, Galiano Island, Gabriola Island, and Haro Strait.

text: British North America[edit]

text: In 1778, the British seafaring Captain James Cook, midway through his third and final voyage of exploration, sailed along the west coast of North America, mapping the coast from California all the way to the Bering Strait. The northern stretch of the west coast of North America was claimed by the British, but the region was not occupied by any British subject until 1788, when John Meares first small trading post in Nootka Sound in today's British Columbia. His post was torn down at the end of 1788 although he claimed otherwise.

text: Conflict between Spain and Great Britain[edit]

text: Spain established its own competing fortified trading post at Nootka Sound (Santa Cruz de Nutka, maintained between 1789 and 1795[28]) on Vancouver Island, in today's British Columbia, and sought forcibly to remove British traders by seizing ships, triggering the Nootka Crisis.

text: War between Spain and Great Britain over control of the Pacific Northwest was averted by the three Nootka Conventions, signed in 1790, 1793, and 1794. Spain gave up its claim that it alone could establish settlements in the Pacific Northwest (a claim that dated back to the 1493 papal bull and Balboa's actions in 1513), and conceded the British right to establish settlements in any area nominally claimed by Spain but never occupied. This agreement effectively allowed a greatly expanded British presence in the Pacific Northwest, including today's British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington.

text: The primary beneficiary of this agreement was the Hudson's Bay Company, which, in 1825, established a major trading post at Fort Vancouver across the Columbia River just north of today's Portland, Oregon. From this headquarters, British-employed fur trappers spread throughout the Pacific Northwest, extending as far east as the Rocky Mountains and, by using the Siskiyou Trail, as far south as California's Central Valley.

text: Mexican independence[edit]

text: After the Spanish possession now known as Mexico (first known as "América Septentrional" or "Northern America") won its War of Independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico initially retained Spain's missions and settlements along the Pacific coast, and continued Spain's claims to territory as far north as today's border between California and Oregon. In the 1830s, Mexico ended Church control of the missions in California and opened the land to secular development, particularly ranching. By the 1840s, there were small Mexican settlements at San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the territorial capital at Monterey. These settlements primarily traded cattle hides and tallow with American and European merchant vessels. This period is vividly portrayed in Bostonian Richard Henry Dana, Jr.'s famous seafaring memoir, Two Years Before the Mast and the culture of the great Mexican landowners of this period is often harked back to as exemplifying the height of California's romantic pastoral era. Mexican control of the territory ended after only 25 years, when attempts by local Mexican officials to expropriate the property of American ranchers and drive them out of California in the winter lead to the successful uprising known as the Bear Flag Revolt.

text: Central American independence[edit]

text: During the 1820s, the Central American possessions of Spain gained their independence, and the boundaries of the young nations shifted in alliances and configurations. For example, what was to become the nation of Panama was simply a province of Colombia, and Guatemala was variously part of a confederation with Mexico, and part of the United Provinces of Central America, before becoming a separate nation in 1838. Almost all of these Central American nations saw continuing political strife throughout this period (and into the 20th century), as struggles continued between indigenous peoples and elites, and among factions of the elites.

text: French interest[edit]

text: In 1786, Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse led a group of French scientists and artists on a voyage of exploration ordered by Louis XVI and were welcomed in Monterey, California. They compiled an account of the California mission system, the land and the people.

text: The leader of a further French scientific expedition to California, Eugène Duflot de Mofras, wrote in 1840 "...it is evident that California will belong to whatever nation chooses to send there a man-of-war and two hundred men."[29] In 1841, the Mexican military commander in Northern California, General Mariano Vallejo, wrote "there is no doubt that France is intriguing to become mistress of California."

text: U.S. expansion[edit]

text: In 1805, the first official party of Americans to arrive on the west coast of North America, the fabled expedition of Lewis and Clark, came down the Columbia River to the river's mouth on the border between today's Oregon and Washington. In 1819, the United States acquired the Spanish claims to the Pacific Northwest (as negotiated in the Nootka Convention) in the Adams-Onís Treaty. The United States argued that it acquired the Spanish rights to exclusive ownership of the Pacific Northwest as far north as Alaska, even though Spain had in fact relinquished any claim to exclusive rights as a result of the Nootka Conventions. This position led to a dispute with Britain known as the Oregon boundary dispute, remembered for the slogan "54-40 or fight!" The two countries agreed to defer resolution of the dispute, and to allow settlement by both British and American immigrants in what became known in the United States as the Oregon Country (today's Oregon, Washington, and Idaho; much of today's British Columbia; and parts of Montana and Wyoming).

text: In 1841, the United States Exploring Expedition visited the west coast of North America by ship, and sent an overland party down the Siskiyou Trail, from the site of today's Portland, Oregon, to San Francisco.

text: Americans continued arriving on the west coast of North America in significant numbers in the mid-1830s. They first came overland along the Oregon Trail, settling primarily in the rich Willamette Valley south of today's Portland. By 1841, the first overland party of American settlers reached California along what became the California Trail, and by the mid-1840s significant numbers of Americans were arriving in California.

text: In addition, the long-standing dispute between the United States and Great Britain over the Oregon Country was resolved in 1846, with the signing of the Oregon Treaty; the Oregon Treaty divided the disputed territory along what later became the current international boundary between Canada and the United States.

text: Rapid growth (1846–1945)[edit]

text: In this era, much of the west coast of North America transformed from an area still largely populated by indigenous peoples to widespread population of non-natives. In particular, the west coast of the United States showed the most dramatic change, beginning with the California Gold Rush and the subsequent opening of the transcontinental railroads, through the development of Hollywood in Southern California, and increased industry and agriculture in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Canadian and Mexican development also proceeded during this time, but at a slower pace.[30]

text: United States[edit]

text: Americans in California rebelled against Mexico, and in 1846 established the short-lived California Republic. However, the Mexican–American War had already been declared, and the American military quickly took control of California. At the end of the war, Mexico ceded control of California to the United States. Things began to change dramatically in 1848 with the California Gold Rush which brought an influx of immigrants from around the world. While few found much gold, many stayed, founding communities and turning to farming and other practices. Despite these increases in population the west coast was still on the periphery. The American Civil War had little effect. This began to change as the first transcontinental railroads (completed in 1869) stretched across the United States. For the first time, it was relatively cheap and easy to move to the west coast.

text: In 1867, the United States acquired Alaska from the Russian Empire, capping American westward expansion on the North American continent.

text: The next 75 years saw monumental change on the west coast of the United States. Successive booms of agriculture, oil, entertainment, and industry greatly increased California's population. Logging, fishing, and industry drove the economies of California north of the San Francisco Bay Area, and Oregon and Washington.

text: Canada[edit]

text: The gold rush fever spread progressively north; in 1858, the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush began in British Columbia, and at the end of the century, the Klondike Gold Rush saw the Yukon hit by masses of prospectors.

text: The formal delineation of the international border had not completely allayed Britain's fears of losing its Pacific territories, especially as it continued to lag behind the western United States in population and development. As a condition of British Columbia's joining Canadian Confederation in 1871, the Canadian government promised British Columbia a railway, though due to the Pacific Scandal and controversies over the location of the Pacific port and railhead and the use of importing Chinese rather than British labour, the Canadian Pacific Railway was not completed until 1885. The new line became an important link in what was known as the All Red Route around the world, linking global travel through territories exclusively British.

text: Mexico[edit]

text: While the Pacific Coast of Mexico remained relatively undeveloped economically, exceptions were tobacco cultivation in the coastal territory of Nayarit, tourism at Acapulco, and local-scale fishing all along the coast.

text: Central America[edit]

text: The countries of Central America continued to struggle politically during this time (with perhaps the notable exception of Costa Rica), and began to expand agriculture, particularly in coffee and bananas with investment and substantial control by the United States. The establishment in 1903 of the newly independent nation of Panama (under pressure from the United States) led to the creation of the Canal Zone and opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. The opening of the Canal benefited the region economically as trade with the Eastern United States and Europe became far easier.

text: Immigration[edit]

text: Both the gold rushes and the building of the railroads required vast amounts of labor. One available source that was used on both sides of the border were immigrants from East Asia, largely from China and Japan. These immigrants were willing to work for very little and played a crucial role in building the infrastructure of the west coast. However, they faced constant discrimination. Asians were deprived of their civil rights in both the United States and Canada. There was also pressure to restrict Asian immigration, opinions that were acted on with quotas, head taxes, and finally a complete ban in both nations in the 1920s. Because of discrimination, and also a desire to remain a community, Chinatowns developed in all the major cities along the west coast.

text: Increased trade and World War II[edit]

text: The rise of the Japanese economy also benefited the region as the ability to trade across the Pacific continued to show its great potential.

text: However, only a few decades later, Japan would become a major threat. During World War II, there were few attacks against North America, but the occasional Japanese submarine lurked off the shores. Japan tried to damage the region by sending over hundreds of balloon bombs in an attempt to light forest fires. These were generally ineffective; a few landed in either Canada or the United States but they caused no great destruction. More destructive was the internment of ethnic Japanese, who were expropriated and sent into internal exile merely for their descent.

text: Post-war period (1945–present)[edit]

text: The post-war years would be ones of great prosperity and growth on the west coast of North America. The quick reemergence of Japan and its stunning growth over the next decades meant great wealth for the west coast ports. Japan became the second largest trading partner of both Canada and the United States, and this trade was almost entirely based in the west coast (the US and Canada are each other's largest trading partners). Later the other Asian economies would add to this trade. Throughout the northwest the primary extractive activities of logging, mining, and fishing remained the central industries. California became a centre of entertainment, aerospace engineering, and electronics.

text: Unlike other areas of the United States, the western economies were not based upon manufacturing and the great deindustrialization of the 1970s and 1980s did little to hurt the region—creating an imbalance between rapid growth in the west and stagnation or decline in the east.

text: During this period, the west coast departed from positions held in the FDR years and moved toward the direction of conservatism with the population favoring lower taxes. In the United States, this manifested itself in support for the Republican Party, especially for the two Republican California-based presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. In British Columbia, the right wing Social Credit Party governed for over thirty years. Nonetheless, the great port cities of San Francisco and Vancouver both fostered alternative views, acting as centres for environmentalism, unions, feminism, and gay rights.

text: The general economic revival of North America in the late 1990s brought growth in Northern California due to the high-tech industry. The region was hurt, however, by the decade-long economic slump of Japan beginning at the same time. This was made up for by the rapid growth of Southeast Asia, South Korea, and especially China. The entire region shifted quite dramatically politically, however. Westerners diverged from conservatism over social issues such as gay rights, abortion, and the legalization of soft drugs. In 1991, British Columbia threw out Social Credit electing the social democratic British Columbia New Democratic Party. California, Washington, and Oregon were pivotal in Bill Clinton's two victories and Al Gore and John Kerry's near wins in 2000 and 2004. This change was mainly in the urban coastal areas. Inland, rural regions of California remained staunchly Republican, and although once full of labour strongholds, the Interior of British Columbia has voted solidly for the Reform Party and its successors.